Do you know what your customers are saying about you?

In this tough market, it’s critical to pay attention to the online world of blogging, social networking and business review sites to stay on top of feedback about your business. With so many people using online sites to find or learn more about businesses and real estate agents, just one negative review from an upset client can ruin your chances of landing a new client. Just the other day, I was on Yelp.com and for fun looked up real estate agents in the Dallas market. To no surprise, I found several instances of customers leaving extremely negative comments about their REALTOR. What was most alarming to me was not the negative feedback, but the fact that there was no customer relations response from that agency attempting to resolve the issue.  It’s extremely important to offer a response to try to resolve the issue or the very least apologize. But remember, it is even more critical that you never respond defensively or unprofessionally. What you say on the internet, can stay there forever. In the end, you may not be able to resolve the issue, but it’s important to remember that your potential future customers are watching and a positive gesture will go a long way to showing you care about your customers.

So monitor the blogs and forums in your area, as well as social networking sites and business review sites like Yelp.com. Also, remember to ask your clients to leave positive reviews for you on these sites as well. Lastly, be sure to create Google Alerts for your name and business name, so that you can automatically receive notices when your name is listed on a website.

Have you ever found negative feedback about your business online? How did you respond?